Life of Mary (Dürer)

Title page

The Life of the Virgin Mary is a picture cycle of nineteen woodcuts and a cover picture that was published in book form. The cycle was started by Albrecht Dürer shortly after 1500 and only completed between 1510 and 1511. One of the best preserved copies is in the State Graphic Collection in Munich . Dürer was still working on his Great Passion series when he was already tackling the life of Mary . Only 16 of the printing blocks had been completed by 1504, although the final completion was further delayed by Dürer's second stay in Venice from 1505 to 1507.

Classification in art history

During the Renaissance , the cult of Mary was of great importance. Graphic artists and writers of the time illustrated the life of the Mother of God based on the Apocrypha . as well as legends from the Legenda Aurea of Jacobus de Voragine .

The Adoration of the Magi , woodcut after Albrecht Dürer by Marcantonio Raimondi

History of origin

Dürer started the cycle of the life of Mary in 1501 or 1502. Although some earlier cuts with Schongauer's engravings had motifs similar to those of Dürer's, art historians recognize that Dürer did not imitate the existing works, but rather redeveloped the themes with his own ideas that had been formulated well in advance.

After completing 17 cuts, Dürer embarked on his second journey to Italy in 1505. Marcantonio Raimondi was able to copy these finished cuts. After his return from Italy in 1507, Dürer created the two missing cuts in 1510.

Together with other woodcuts such as the Great Passion or the Small Passion , Dürer also published Das Marienleben in a book that was provided with Latin poems by the Benedictine Benedictus Chelidonius from the St. Aegidien monastery in Nuremberg . In total, Dürer produced around 90 woodcuts during this period.

The cycle was reprinted several times in the 16th century .